Page 3 of The King of Halloween
Dear god, man, get it together.
Coughing, Adam tried to shake off the nerves of a thirteen-year-old boy having to face the locker room showers for the first time. “If you wouldn’t mind following me? They’re in the back.”
He had enough brain cells left to not reach over to take Raj’s hand. Instead, he guided him around the shoppers unaware that an entire world existed outside of themselves. As Raj trailed behind, he kept asking about his stock.
“I always like to have one wiggling rat in the pile of latex ones, for fun,” Adam said, approaching the curtain. “To tell you the truth, I don’t show many people the masks this early. You’re…quite lucky to get to see them today.”
“Oh. Should I not have asked? I just heard that I had to check out your Halloween masks. They said they’re amazing.”
Smiling, Adam flung back the curtain and stepped inside. As he flipped the light, he said, “No. They’re the best.”
To the unprepared eye, the entire back wall was something out of a serial killer’s wet dream. It was divided into a grid of six rows and eight columns with square shelves to hold his most precious. Each alcove was painted in faux stone with flickering lights to mimic the fat, dribbling candles in a castle dungeon. But what made Adam smile and Raj’s breath catch were the heads inside.
Skin the color of putrified flesh, eyes sewn shut, lips dangling as if a breeze could tear them off—he had the kind of zombies that would haunt Romero’s nightmares. Bears, foxes, wolves, raccoons—an entire forest of animals gazed glass-eyed from the third row. Their fur and latex flesh were so lifelike, half the time Adam expected to hear a howl or roar from their cells.
But Adam’sraison d'êtrewere the masks in the two top rows. Eldritch horrors plucked from the edge of space, underwater demons lurking in depths unimaginable to the human psyche, monsters without eyes, lips, noses—or ones with far too many. Tentacles bobbed off of the squid-like monster’s heads with such a glistening sheen it was easy to think they’d just been plucked from the water. In the center was his pride and joy—a mask that looked exactly like flesh flayed from numerous people and knitted back together to form the head of the modern Prometheus. Most striking were the hints of red muscle below where the stitches didn’t quite take.
Those were the masks that people whispered about. The ones they’d clamor to get a glimpse of come every October first. Guaranteed to win any costume contest and scare the soul out of passersby on the trick or treating route.
There were also clown masks on the bottom row.
“What do you think?” Adam asked, folding his arms across his chest.
Raj stumbled forward as if being beckoned by demonic latex. “They’re… I’ve never seen anything like this.” He reached for the chameleon mask. It didn’t look like the lizard, but—thanks to a mix of shiny paints, crystals, and glass—it gave the illusion it was always blending in with the background.
“And you never will,” Adam said.
His voice must have been enough to jerk Raj from his spell. He dropped his hands before he touched the mask, then bundled them behind his back. Adam could understand the feeling. It was also why he made sure to keep the masks behind glass when they were on sale.
Walking forward, Adam smiled. “They’re all one of a kind, created by a demented mad genius who’s isolated from society. Every year, they make a new set, unlike anything they’ve done before. And—” He reached in past Raj to pick up the styrofoam head displaying the chameleon mask. ”—I’m required by contract to destroy whatever doesn’t sell.”
“That’s…” Raj’s eyes were wild, his mouth hanging open as he leaned closer to inspect the detail on the mask. The flesh had been imprinted with scales while the top of the head was ribbed with a mix of gemstones and resin. He nearly ran his finger across the gleaming alexandrite when he glanced up. “You don’t really destroy them…right?”
“If I want to keep appeasing the artist—” Adam said. “They’re quite…”
“Particular?”
“I’d say madder than a wet hen, but particular works. Here, do you want to try it on?”
“I…should I?”
After patting his fingers with baby powder, Adam slipped his palm under the mask and pulled it off the styrofoam head. “Why not?” Like the incredibly devoted storeowner he was, Adam helped Raj into the mask. And it was not just an excuse for him to stand behind and breathe in his hair.
As Raj placed a steadying hand to the mask’s face, Adam tugged the top over his head. Myrrh and a spicy Turkish resin wafted in the air. Shivers climbed up his back like Nosferatu’s shadow scaling the stairs. “Hmm, you’ll probably want a bald cap to help tame your luscious locks, but this should work for now.”
The tips of black hair tumbled from the back of the mask behind his neck. Even still, as Adam swung around and reached for a mirror, his breath caught.A prism of light beamed across the ceiling as Raj shifted his head. Hidden holographic scales lit up, changing color in a pattern chasing over Raj’s cheeks. The sculpt gave Maleficent cheekbones to the already well-carved man. It was only the eyes that made Adam purse his lips. Oh, they were beautiful—a haunting mix of colors over two bulbous orbs. But they completely hid Raj’s ensnaring ones. No amount of holographic glitter could compete with those.
“Have a look.” Adam passed over the mirror shaped like an apple. As Raj stared at it, Adam leaned back to watch. He always let them try it on, get a feel for the quality, the glitz, the glam before he dropped the boom.
“This is the thinnest latex I’ve ever worn and so detailed. It feels like a second skin,” Raj said.
“The artist uses a secret blend of materials. Even I don’t know exactly what they are, but with this mask you can spend hours dancing the night away and not even break a sweat.”
Raj patted his cheek, causing the colors to shift from an aqua blue to a mysterious purple. “Oh, no worries there. I am awful at dancing, and parties, and people.”
Smiling, Adam leaned in. “You just haven’t been to the right parties.”
Even though the mask hid Raj’s skin, Adam felt the blush burning across his cheeks.Oh, hot teddy bears were one thing—but awkward nerds into scary masks…The universe was testing him.
